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This study aims to apply the service robot acceptance model (sRAM) to examine how attitude toward human–robot interaction (HRI) and engagement influence consumer acceptance of service robots in a frontline setting.

Data was collected from 255 visitors who interacted with a robotic tour guide at a city museum. The data was analyzed using smart PLS 4.0.

The findings show the positive effects of subjective norms, appearance, perceived trust and positive emotion on both attitude toward HRI and engagement. In addition, social capability impacted attitude toward HRI, whereas perceived usefulness affected engagement.

To deliver engaging museum experiences that bring about positive word-of-mouth and intention to visit, managers need to incorporate the sRAM dimensions in the design and deployment of service robots.

This research uses field data to empirically validate the sRAM in the context of service robot acceptance. It introduces engagement as a novel mediating variable, enriching current understanding of human-like qualities in HRIs.

While the potential benefits of integrating humour into advertisements are widely understood, the reasons why these effects emerge are not. Drawing on literature about the impact of psychological feelings of power, this research aims to examine how power motivation interacts with the presence of disparaging humour in ads to influence ad-related outcomes.

Following the measurement (Study 1) or manipulation (Study 2) of power motivation, participants viewed an ad featuring either disparaging humour or one of the following alternatives: no humour (Study 1) or non-disparaging humour (Study 2). Sense of superiority, brand attitude, ad claim recall and the perceived humorousness of the ad were then assessed.

Featuring disparaging humour in an ad increased participants’ sense of superiority, but only among those with high power motivation. Among such participants, this heightened sense of superiority increased the perceived humorousness of the disparaging humour (Studies 1 and 2), induced more favourable attitudes towards the brand featured in the ad (Studies 1 and 2) and enhanced ad claim recall (Study 2). These effects did not, however, extend to ads featuring non-disparaging humour (Study 2), indicating that it was the presence of disparaging humour, and not humour per se, that was responsible for these effects.

These findings break open the “black box” of humour by identifying why consumers perceive disparaging humorous content to be funny, when this effect will occur and what impact this will have on advertising-related outcomes.

The study explored the impact of the King and Queen of Mathematics Initiative (KQMI) in promoting students’ interest in learning mathematics and improving their achievement. The specific objectives of the study focused on the impact of the initiative in promoting interest in mathematics, assessing the contribution of the initiative to students’ achievements and investigating challenges encountered by the initiative.

The study used a case study design with a mixed-method approach. One ward secondary school was involved. The sample size was N = 79, where 77 were grade three students in a science class and two teachers. Data collection involved documentary review, observation and interviews. Data analysis employed both content analysis and a dependent t-test to determine the effect size of the initiative.

The findings revealed that KQMI had a significant impact on improving performance in mathematics among students (t (71) = −7.917, p < 0.05). The study also showed that male students improved their performance more than their counterparts throughout the KQMI. The mathematics teacher revealed that students still need assistance to solve mathematical questions with different techniques to develop the expected competencies.

The initiative was conducted only in one school, limiting the findings’ generalization. Also, the innovation faced different challenges, such as accessing adequate resources and students with little knowledge of mathematics, which the initiative aimed to address.

Pedagogical innovations enhance the promotion of students’ interest in learning mathematics and hence improve their performance. Also, through pedagogical innovations, teachers improve their teaching skills and practices from students’ feedback.

The KQMI is a new pedagogical innovation modified from the existing innovations such as game-based method, task design, mobile learning and mathematics island.

This paper focuses on coordination and collaboration technologies in contemporary knowledge management. In particular, we focus on the roles of coordination and collaboration technologies in managing knowledge in global textile and apparel companies. We begin by presenting the issues of knowledge and knowledge management in organizations, and determining how the latest coordination and collaboration technologies aid networked organizations in managing, sharing, and transferring their “knowledge.” The paper also examines the functions of the latest technologies in communication and coordination and determines how they help the organizations share, store, and transfer their “knowledge” between and within the organizations. This paper suggests how the latest technologies in communication can be applied to managing knowledge in organizations. Although our study is mainly based on empirical observations of international textile and apparel companies, the contextual elements governing the use of the technologies apply to all businesses that rely on proper communication and coordination to plan and monitor globally dispersed functional teams and enterprises.

This research concerns how to implement knowledge management for coordination and collaboration and what the important issues are in managing knowledge in today's globalizing fashion business contexts. Through a literature survey, we develop an implementation framework that provides a new, knowledge-centred management paradigm for organizations. We begin with a discussion of the issues of knowledge and knowledge management as aspects of the organizational process, and examine how knowledge management aids networked organizations in managing, sharing, and transferring their "knowledge". On such a premise we examine a case of how knowledge management can be operationalized and assessed in terms of the three-dimensional aspects of managing the latest communication and coordination technologies: predictability, interconnectedness, and efficiency. Although our research is based on empirical observations of international textile and apparel companies, the contextual elements governing the use of the technologies apply to all businesses that rely on proper communication and coordination to plan and monitor globally dispersed functional teams and enterprises.

This paper explores the fast fashion transformation in the apparel textile industry and subsequent impacts on fabric manufacturing and the development processes. Characterized by clothing styles with shorter life cycles, faster unit production, and impulse purchasing (Bruce & Daly, 2006), the reactive fast fashion business approach captures market trends and reflects those styles in constantly changing merchandise (Fernie, 2004). Manufacturers must maximize their competitive advantages in their production strategies, business models, and activities toward achieving retailers' fast fashion requirements. Competitive suppliers along the supply chain continuously innovate and adjust production and development methods to improve delivery lead-times and prices while maintaining quality requirements (Christopher & Peck, 1999). This paper will explore the impacts and changes in fabric development processes in response to the fast fashion retail strategy.

Guanxi has been a popular research topic but commentators do not have consensus on its ethical and positioning aspects. Attempts to tackle these two aspects and the problem of guanxi and favor according to a survey in a Sino‐Hong Kong business negotiation environment. Respondents perceived that there are four dimensions within the guanxi concept, i.e. opportunism, dynamism, business interaction, and protectionism. According to these four dimensions, they can be segmented into three clusters, i.e. the preserver, the wiser, and the braver. Different clusters have different psychological approaches to Sino‐foreign negotiation but there is no difference in their perceptions towards the relationship between guanxi and favor. Concludes that guanxi is basically ethical and it can be used as a positioning strategy in China. However, there is some evidence to suggest that guanxi and favor are sensitive and situation‐specific, but further research is needed to confirm these claims.

This work is initiated under the premise that reliable evaluation methods are necessary to ensure investments in energy conservation, and the purpose of this paper is to contribute to that literature. It describes some pilot changes and their impact in an actual field study oriented toward upgrading municipal public housing (MPH) units.

The research for this paper was connected to an MPH refurbishment project situated in northern Sweden. The overall energy efficiency goal within the project was a 40-50 percent reduction in the supplied energy for central electricity, domestic hot water and space heating. In order to evaluate if these goals were feasible, a measurement system was installed in a pilot building and in a neighboring building used as a reference. The evaluation was conducted by comparing the post-retrofit performance of the pilot building with the performance of the reference building when it was kept in its initial state (a comparison possible because both buildings had initial similarities).

Impacts could be quantified insofar as a reference (control) building in the same environment was sustained for comparison purposes. A 43 percent improvement was observed in energy utilization in the pilot building compared to its reference companion (99.8 vs 174.5 kWh/m² per year). When the approach described herein was applied to new construction, the present goal of 65 kWh/m² was approached as measured by Swedish standards.

Results should be of interest to academics in the housing field, professionals involved in refurbishment and residents themselves, renting MPH flats.

This study is unique in the following ways: first, it really was a field experiment with a control, thus it did not have any exogenous interference in interpreting results. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind. The second interesting characteristic was that results were subsequently used in the refurbishment of other buildings in the complex and in the construction of others. The major value of the paper may be associated with its timing. It comes at a time when the Kyoto agreement has raised concerns about sustainability, but also at a time when many buildings are facing a need for refurbishment.

Recent studies conducted in the USA and the UK have shown evidence of a relationship between market orientation and company performance. The overall aim of the research reported in this paper was to build on this limited body of literature by considering the evidence from another, non‐Western, business environment, namely Hong Kong. In addition, this study sought to clarify the distinction, not often made in the literature, between a market‐ and a marketing‐orientation. Data from 73 textiles and garments manufacturers were collected using an instrument based on Narver and Slater’s (1990) scale. Consistent with previous findings in Western cultures, the results of this study are suggestive of a relationship between market orientation and company performance. However, surveyed firms exhibited a much higher marketing orientation suggesting that it is possible to be effective at implementing the marketing function without possessing a market‐oriented organisational culture.